


The dragon infestation

by Numerion



Category: Original Work
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-09-28
Packaged: 2018-12-12 20:10:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11744298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Numerion/pseuds/Numerion





	1. The dragon council

"That dragon absolutely has to go!" the king shouted red in the face. His advisors all looked from one to another with a sign of disdain in their eyes. All except Mr. Ruthly of course, he would never do such a thing.  
"Excuse me, my liege" Lord Fork, the military captain, finally broke the silence "But I don't see the problem. So it stole a cow or five, what's the matter. Our farmlands yearly report thousands of cows on their fields." he smugly looks around the table.  
Not letting the lord speak he continues "And more importantly, what is a cow to a regiment of troops? We are talking about a dragon here, they are awfully dangerous."  
"As Mister Ruthly informed me, that dragon has indeed stolen only a few cows. But he also explained to me" the king regained composure "And to all of you I may add, that a dragon doing that in a short amount of time is probably feeding her young ones" this time the smugness gathered in the rather wide face of Mr. Ruthly.  
"And so I don't give a damn if two regiments die to it, if it isn't dead by the end of spring, the small ones will start hunting" he continues in his rant "And then, I might just send all of you to go and hunt them." he finally finishes and sits back into his small throne with a carved silhouette of a bear on it.

A few empty gulps go around the table until Lord Dome, the keeper of grain, voices a question "If I may ask, Mister Ruthly, could you please repeat how many offspring can a full grown dragon have in a single season?" his voice is weak, but in the end he adds "Just to see how much fighting chance would this room have against them" and a few chuckles responded to this addition.

 

Mister Ruthly used the table to help himself get on his legs and hopefully not fall down in the process. He was a frail old man, but carried the wisdom of the ages in his head.  
His voice still carried weight as it did during his younger minutes "A dragon, or well, dragoness more specifically is a kind of lizard. A very large and overgrown compared to the others, but a lizard no less. And just like a lizard, it can have anywhere between ten to a hundred eggs. Sadly, it is unknown to us the very high limits of these numbers, as it is quite hard to keep track of dragons and get in their nests regularly without being eaten, but we know that a few dozen pups isn't completely impossible, given enough food that is." he rambles on, not noticing the continually more and more horrified looks of the other advisors.

"Hold on mister..." Lord Slush started "Ruthly" somebody else added "Yes, mister Ruthly. Did you say a few dozen?" he added, putting as much emphasis on the word 'dozen' as he could.  
"Why yes" Mr Ruthly responded, still standing as he managed to get his knees locked "You see it's a matter of food. Somewhere in deep mountains, the mother will only manage to raise two or three at the same time and the rest will die one way or another. But here in the hills and plains and with our farms, she could easily sustain all of them! It's wonderful really."

This time Lord Fork finally understood the severity of the situation "If I may, my liege, I think we now understand why you felt it was so very important to call for a ménage à trois so very early in the morning. When shall we dispatch a force against this mighty beast?" he asked and was gladdened that Mr Ruthly sat back down. He couldn't stand him much even though he had a respect for him. Rumours say that he spent all his life gathering the facts he knows about all the animals in and out of the kingdom. It was either a miracle he was still alive or just sheer competence. 

The king let his voice disappear from the echoing hall and finally spoke "Let's send them off before noon. I want my son to be with them, he will need the experience. After all, there have been numerous dragon sightings in the mountains, we might need the knowledge for later" he nodded and stood up "Alright, the ménage à trois is over. Go carry out the needed tasks." and he left the way he came, through the heavy polished doors in the side of the hall reserved for king only.


	2. Tree

It was noon when they got out of the city. Roger, the prince, looked backwards from his horse. The line of nine men following him looked as if they were on the way to the executioner's block. And they probably were. At least some of them.   
They were all volunteers, who were now rethinking their decisions. He recognized some of them. Prisoners of days long gone, soldiers stuck in posts they don't enjoy and young wannabe heroes he saw bragging around the city.   
All of them now dragging feet behind him. As soon as they were out of sight of the gatehouse he spurred the horse to pick up the pace. He was instructed to get to the dragon and dispatch him before the day was through and he wasn't going to risk them all running off in the night.   
He mentally went over the recommendations he has been given by the old Mr. Ruthly. A lunatic in the eyes of Roger. But a living lunatic of that age deserves to be listened to. Maybe you can figure out how they survived so long.   
"Don't let her fly around and pick her attacks. Bring her down as soon as possible. You are a big man, once she is on the ground you and your soldiers will be able to finish her" he said. He went on to suggest using ship ropes and hooks. And most of all assured him that a young dragon shouldn't be able to breathe fire. That was something he was afraid of. Nobody likes being on fire. And even less so him, a prince and an heir to the throne.

As they were on their way towards the edge of the fields and into the hills, the pace and mood rose. The soldiers started joking, mostly about having a dragon for a dinner, telling stories, sharing their fears and hopes. Roger smiled to himself. This always happened. With every suicidal team, they started off as depressed but the danger ahead brought them closer and boosted their morale.   
He himself was happy. He had a job to do and it wasn't the hardest he ever done. He chuckled to himself. He still had a burn mark from when he burned a troll village while being held captive there. And survived to tell the tale, naturally. 

The line got quiet. He stopped digging through his memories and his eyes scanned the hills. He hasn't been this way in a while. They were overgrown. He made a mental mark to suggest cutting them down a bit, perhaps even burning them. They needed to keep watch of the hills in the south.   
He noticed movement over some of the hills. He stopped the horse and focused. He could see a silhouette flying over the tops of the trees. Then it turned and shrieked a horrible sound. The horse panicked, but he held on tightly, holding him in place. The shriek ended and he had to shake his head to keep steady. He wondered how these shrieks aren't hearable all the way to the castle.   
The dragon seemed to be coming closer. He quickly issued the order to spread and hide. Making quick decisions and feeling the mild panic of the horse under him, he quickly dropped from it and sent it running home. He would have to find it later. Looking around, he saw three of the soldiers hiding under a tree, and a few in tall grass. He chose to blend behind a boulder.   
As soon as he jumped behind it, he looked back to the sky. The dragon was still a bit away and he wasn't sure if it saw them. According to the old man they were more intelligent than your common animals. Roger didn't know if that meant intelligent in combat or survivability. In either case, it was coming to them. Fast. 

He shushed the trio near the tree and signed to the rope they had with them. One of them nodded back. He was one of the young wannabe heroes. He seemed brave. His hands quickly unbundled the rope and with the help of the others started tying it around the tree.   
The dragon was closer. Only now Roger started realising how big a dragon truly is. As it got closer it covered a good chunk of the evening sky. Maybe if they could distract it and blind it with the sun, they could somehow kill it. Suddenly he realised the obvious hole in his instructions. They didn't specify how to kill him off. And he wasn't sure if Mr. Ruthly avoided that or didn't know how to. Both of the options scared him equally much. 

It flew over them. It was coming down Roger realised. As it passed, he quickly jumped over the boulder. Not long after he collected himself on that end, he felt a quake as the dragon landed somewhere behind them. He peeked over and saw a body of a horse tossed in the air by a huge lizard with wings. When the horse landed it dug into him and started eating him.   
'on the way home, I'll be a foot soldier' Roger thought. But his inner soldier prevailed. He was aware that the dragon didn't notice them. Just what they needed. Screw the horse if he is the thing they need to kill it.   
He stood up and carefully stepped over to the trio hiding behind the tree. They handed him the hook with the rope and nodded to him. He was the hero. Not them.   
Masked in the sounds of horse bones breaking he closed in on the lizard. He didn't want to get too close, but he needed to make sure the hook would attach. He also realised it wasn't as big as it seemed before. Sure, it was the biggest creature they had ever seen, but it was also slim. And its body was only partially covered with scales.   
He was standing about fifty feet away from the dragon. He could see his horse getting devoured. He wasn't going to get much more time so it would have to do. He aimed at the shoulder of its wing. It was exactly as Mr. Ruthly has told him. They use their upper limbs as wings, but the patagium as he called the flappy part doesn't actually connect to their bodies. He hoped that he could hit that and wrap the rope around it. Not only would it prevent it from flying away, it would allow them to force it to face a certain way. Solid plan.   
He spun the hook. He focused on the wing and released it. And it flew straight where it was supposed to. Except the shoulder wasn't there. As soon as the hook and the rope left his hands, the dragon heard them. It spun in the place and got hit in the head with a hook. It shrieked again as Roger quickly unhooked the shield from his back. It wasn't perfect plans that kept him alive this far. It was fast reactions. When the dragon leapt forwards, he blocked the hit of its talons with the shield and got propelled backwards. He didn't have the shield anymore. 

His squad didn't wait around. They unfolded into a semi-circle around the dragon. They were thinking fast. They knew that if they wanted to survive, they had to all work for it.   
One of them, a prisoner named Bob, charged forward with an axe and a scream. Bob died sometime between the dragon grabbing him with his fangs and him landing good two hundred feet away after being tossed.   
Somebody tossed a javelin and it simply rolled off the scales. The semi-circle got bigger. The dragon realised what was happening and lunged forward at one of the men at the edge. The young man jumped sideways and got stepped on by the dragon.   
Another javelin, this time impacting into the side of the lizard. It lashed back at the nearest soldier, but that one was luckier. Instead of dodging sideways, he leapt right under the belly of the beast. Rolling sideways he tried slashing it with his sword. It worked and the beast finally bled. It also caused it to back off and completely obliterate the soldier in question with its mouth.   
'Three lost so quickly' Roger thought 'we need to kill it quickly' he said and dashed around the others.   
The dragon noticed his momentum and went for him, but immediately third of the javelins hit the side. And then it was followed by a good spear thrust through the scales. Even Roger could hear the spear tip penetrating the thick hide. And he was grateful for the distraction. He risked a glance and saw the soldier still holding the spear as the dragon turned, using the leverage to keep out of reach.   
Meanwhile he finally got to what he was searching for. The hook. He picked it up and rolled on some of the rope. With the dragon preoccupied and fighting with the others, he might have a chance. But he needed to do it quickly before it decides to fly away.   
He saw two soldiers get hit by the beast's tail and be knocked away. The one with the spear, a young lad from the army's reserves pulled back and charged right towards the beast's neck. He would get smitten downwards if it wasn't for another, a veteran from the prison guards, leaping sideways to save him only to be flattened himself.   
The dragon turned and started running. It was going to take off, Roger realised. He sprinted right opposite to it. It lunged forward to try and bite him in half, but he was quicker. He tossed the hook ahead of him and dived into the grass, still holding the rope. He felt it latch and quickly let go of it as he rolled over in between the dragon's hind legs. He watched as the dragon flew up into the air and the rope stretched.   
Roger could swear he heard it snapping, but it didn't. Moment later he witnessed the dragon plummet to the ground face first. He rushed forward. They didn't have much time before it collected itself. He heard the others running somewhere behind him, but he didn't care.   
The dragon was lying on its back and thrashing around, getting bound in the rope more and more. He leapt over its snapping fangs and slashed downwards across its neck. His sword barely touched the hide and rolled off. Roger turned around and crouched over the neck. He saw that he was safe from the fangs, but the thrashing talons could very much hurt him. He went for a throat stab, but again his sword failed to penetrate the thick hide.   
Angry, he punched the throat with his armored gauntlet. He signed the others to stop where they were. He stood up and tossed his sword at the dragon's face. It noticed him and tried snapping at him, but he was just out of reach. As he expected, the talons came in right after. He ducked one swipe and kicked the throat with all his force. The second talon came flying at him from above. He just barely dodged to the side. Behind him, the talon slipped through the rough skin of the dragon. Immediately after standing up, he caught a spear being tossed to him from his men.   
Through the shrieks of pain and rage, he carefully aligned the spear and stabbed downwards. The beast thrashed once more and then it stopped.

 

They camped right there under the tree. They didn't have enough wood for a fire but it didn't matter to them. They were happy and alive. Roger and four of the men, half of the force they came there with. They sat around till the night was halfway through and then slept on the ground in the grass. All but Roger.   
He had business to finish and throats to slit. One by one the soldiers died. Quietly. The rest of the night he spent dragging them to the others, slashing their bodies apart more. 

In the morning, he ventured south. Mr. Ruthly assured him that the dragonlings wouldn't survive without their mother. But he went after them. He needed them. He was promised great things in exchange. He climbed into the hills and just past noon he found the nest. A bunch of small blind winged lizards all huddled up close to each other. And shrieking. They wouldn't be for much longer.   
He took out the bow he took from one of his soldiers and shot three of the small dragons near the side. They died instantly, he was a good shot.   
Only after dragging them with him did he go back north on the road back to the castle. On the way he would acquire a horse of one of the farmers near and he would return a grand hero. A hero that survived a dragon and killed it. All alone.


	3. Castle

Roger stashed the dead baby dragons in an abandoned cottage near the castle. At the agreed spot. He was promised great things for such a low price. Deserved things. He was the prince. Son of the king. And his father was old, too old. But as was the family tradition, only after his death would the throne be up for the taking.   
And as was another tradition, the son of a ruling king usually never got to that time. A king rules and a prince wages war. A king lives and a prince dies in a glorious battle.   
Only Roger had other plans.   
He was approached with a proposition. A few dead dragonlings for the throne. Turns out, attacking dragon dens is a fairly dangerous business and you won't find just about anybody willing to do it. Usually if a dragon becomes a problem he is lured away. Mr Ruthly told him that. He also only needed a little push in the correct direction to persuade Roger's father of the importance of killing the dragon, rather than luring it away. After all, he would get a dead dragon to dissect and how wonderful that would be!   
And Roger wasn't above paying a small price of killing his fellow soldiers for it. After all, who would know he killed them and not the dragon? Who could deny him his rightful prize?

He knew the answer. No one.   
He let go off the argument in his mind as he passed the gate to enter the city as a hero yet again.

~~~

The fool did his job. The dead dragonlings were stashed under a bed. Shot by arrows. He was smart enough to remove the shafts, but that would pose no problem. Grizzard stashed them in a small box and carefully bound it to his wagon. Then he placed a barrel over it and poured grain on top. He doubted any possible patrol would stop and search him, but he was taking no chances. He knew they wouldn't. At least the usual patrols wouldn't, after all they all knew him to be the farmer with a sick family from the east.   
Fools, he thought. All of them were fools. But even a kingdom full of fools could survive for hundreds of years if it happened to live in a favourable and mostly protected land. After all, the bear nation was surrounded by hills on all sides and the only entrances to this valley of fertile heaven were mountain passes.   
No. He corrected himself. It's not that the fools live in the heaven. It's that a peaceful heaven breeds fools. Yes they waged their little wars and defended themselves as a bear would, but in all those hundreds of years their land wasn't seriously challenged. And a lack of challenge brings comfort. Comfort brings fall. And that was Grizzard's role.

His wagon rocked on the paved road towards east, but only so far to get away of the sight of the castle. As soon as he was behind horizon he turned south, to the mountains. He knew them very well by now. For close to a decade, he's been bringing meat from his own nation up there, leaving it around or feeding the dragons directly. As a tribute. Or so he hoped they thought. The results were not far behind. The dragons bred. And soon there were too many of them for the mountains. It was a matter of time until they climbed down and settled in the valleys surrounding it. Already they got rid of one problem, an undead settlement that's been a pin in the wolves' side for about a hundred years. And now they would solve another problem. 

Soon in the mountains he had to climb down from his cart. He took the box and propped it on his back. Tough was the work of warlock, but it wasn't the heaviest burden he had to carry over the last decade.   
He worked his way towards the very top of the mountains, a valley almost entirely enclosed by mountaintops. In the middle of it was a shrine of old; a stone slab some poor soul had to drag up there laid on top of a chiseled rock. Grizzard placed the box next to it and opened it. He knew he was being watched and that the dragons were near.   
He pulled out the dragonlings one by one, each arranged with several arrows of the bear empire sticking out of it. The dragons were intelligent. No words would need to be exchanged. In fact, Grizzard wasn't even sure they understood languages. He let go of the last dragonling and took a step back, bowing his head in a sign of sorrow.   
He heard a roar. A roar full of age, pain and regret. And another joining it, much younger, but alike painful. Many others joined and Grizzard looked upon the tips of the mountains. As far as eyes could see, there were dragon figures holding still and roaring at the sky.   
Excellent. He thought and took a step back to the dragonlings, pulling one bloodied arrow out. He held it over is head and several dragons ventured close to him. They examined the arrow and a silent nod seemed to have passed between them. One by one the dragons took to skies and soon the mountains were empty.   
Empty but for Grizzard to venture back down and reap what he sow. 

 

~~~ 

The whole castle was on feet. What was supposed to be a heroic celebration turned sour quickly. There were reports of dragon sightings and attacks. From all over the kingdom. Roger thought somebody was playing a bad joke on him, but then he saw them from a tower. There were hundreds of them flying straight towards the castle. Sometimes, one or two of them would dip down to terrorize a local village or ruin a house, but the massive force was still approaching.   
In a way they were beautiful. Roger thought. He quickly dismissed the thought as it wasn't useful at the moment. He ordered the ballistae to be prepared and ready, but even then he was sure they didn't have enough of them. They would need thousands to have a slim chance of defending against what was incoming and all they had was a few dozen. His mind went back to slicing open the dragon's neck when it was most exposed and how much work it was to finish it off. He had no illusions of what was coming.   
He wouldn't run. He was the prince of the bears and he was promised to lead. He wasn't going to let that go. 

About an hour later, the first dragons were finally in range. The smallest and fastest ones, eager to fight against the puny humans. A barrage of ballistae missiles launched and two dragons dropped from the skies, both crashing through a house on the edge of town. Reload and another barrage launched. The dragons expected it and most dodged. One didn't. Roger saw it get pinned through by several bolts at once. But such a flying beast wouldn't stop. Its momentum carried it further as it fell and its limp body crashed straight through the tower Roger was standing on. By inches he managed to jump off and land on the battlements below it. He was grateful for the armor taking most of the impact. He turned around to see the results and couldn't believe his eyes. Just one small dragon, smaller than the one he had slain, has completely wrecked the tower by just crashing into it. He saw the sights of the soldiers around and their terrified eyes. "Reload!" he commanded not letting them know that he was as scared as them.

The other dragons started landing, pulling the battlements apart, tearing through the defenders with their teeth or claws. Some landed beyond it in the courtyards and the sheer number of soldiers ready to fight, utilizing spears and javelins brought them down. But each and every one of them took out at least a dozen soldiers.   
Roger saw another one flying close to them and he readied a close by javelin. It landed on the battlement and instantly chomped down on a man near the ballista. Another one slashed a rope and the giant crossbow shot its load right into the dragon's belly. Roger saw the pain in its eyes and the quickly rising anger. It roared in an arc, causing several defenders to abandon their spots and jump into the courtyard.   
Roger bid his time. Then threw the javelin straight through its throat, causing it to spit and gush in anger, before losing ground and falling down beneath the walls.   
It didn't matter. Not one single dead dragon mattered. Roger looked up to see them swarming about, trying to find a place to land. A fast glance around has shown him why. The battlements and the courtyards were full. Bodies lay everywhere, blood covered most of the grey walls that were still standing.   
And then he heard it. The most powerful roar he would ever hear. Even just hearing it pushed him backwards. A sight up revealed a single dragon flying high up over the swarm which was clearing out. The dragon was as large as the castle itself. It heaved backwards and then released a pillar of fire, burning the castle down as if it was made of butter.   
Roger wimped. His father has been in there. A king rules from his halls, the prince wages war outside. And the throne was up for taking. Metaphorically at least. Roger thought. Because not a single thing could survive the blast of fire. 

And as soon as it started it ended. The dragons took to the skies above the burned castle and flew away in all directions. Roger watched in puzzlement as they left him and maybe a dozen other soldiers living in the ruins of what used to be the bears' fortress. 

~~~

He gathered the rest. About a hundred of them survived. Not only soldiers, but town folk and villagers from nearby. Most of them survived due to hiding underground, only a few from the battlements. Not a single person from the castle. Roger didn't question it. He knew that there was no hope for those.   
They were sprawled across what used to be the town square. They made a fire and huddled together. They didn't talk, they didn't plan. They saw no reason to.   
As they were sitting, Roger heard horse hooves on a road. He turned and knew it was coming from behind a house. It stopped and then a grunt followed by two feet landing on the ground sounded. A man emerged. Roger had shield and blade ready, but the large man in front of him was unarmed. And familiar.   
"How glad am I to find you, prince Roger" the man said. He claimed to be a scientist when they made the deal. "Now I can finally claim or deal is done" he continued and a smirk crossed his face "The king is dead and the kingdom is left for you to reign over" he chuckled.

Roger couldn't believe what he heard. He looked around and saw how slowly the people's sights turned from the strange man to him. And they were hostile.   
And the man continued "It doesn't matter much though. As we speak a host of soldiers are entering the ruins. I advise you to run"   
Roger nodded. Looking over the man's shoulders he could see an army. Not a big one. More of a looting crew actually. But they were coming and they had horses. The man handed him the reins of the horse that he came on. "I just hope you'll be able to forgive me one day" the man finished and backed away. 

Roger didn't say a word and mounted the horse. He lead it through a path in the ruins, to bewildered moans and shouts from the survivors. 

When he turned a corner and he was out of sight of them, a crossbow bolt found home between his shoulders and he fell off the horse. He turned over to see a man with a wolfish grin and a dagger in his hand. Roger's wrist was stomped onto by a heavy foot and the dagger quickly found its way through his throat.


End file.
